Our preview of Saturday's game against York…
York City
Sky Bet League 2
Saturday 6th September
The Lamex Stadium, Stevenage, Herts, SG2 8RN
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Darren Sheldrake
Weather: It's going to be a sunny 18 degrees!
Ticket news:
Tickets remain available online and in the club shop at 'in advance' prices until 4pm on Friday 5th August. After this time admission reverts to 'match day' prices. As this is a Category B game, 'match day' prices will be as follows:
Main Stand (home fans) and South Stand (away fans)
Adult - £22
Concession - £19
U19 - £14
U16 - £10
U12 - £8
East Terrace / North Terrace
Adult – £18
Concession - £16
U19 - £11
U16 - £8
U12 - £5
Team news:
We've got lots of positive news injury-wise; Dean Parrett's meeting with his consultant went well and he's back in full training, less than six months after rupturing his ACL. You can view our interview with him from earlier in the week here.
Chris Beardsley was also back in full training today, although GW has said that we won't see him out on the pitch for a few weeks at least.
After making his debut on Tuesday night, Calvin Zola is getting closer to full fitness although he'll be used sparingly at this stage.
View from the dressing room:
At his weekly press call, GW spoke about how the team need to improve at home...
“I think the last performance was our best away performance yet. We certainly struggled at Southend to come to terms with the away environment...
“Then we were better at Plymouth, we showed that we learned and I thought that we were better again at the weekend.
"We're back home again now and our form at home was very good in pre-season but we've just let the edge go off things since the competitive games started so it's a question now of improving as much at the weekend as we've shown we can do when we play away from home.”
Watch the full interview with the gaffer on Boro Player where he speaks about the impending returns of Dean Parrett and Chris Beardsley, whilst also touching on the importance of Ronnie Henry in the team.
Last season…
After last season’s red-hot end to the campaign, the Minstermen and their fans will be expecting a play-off challenge at minimum after a semi-final loss to Fleetwood saw their promotion hopes go up in smoke last term.
After a terrible start to last season which saw the team lose five of their first seven games, York occupied the bottom half of the table for much of the last campaign, however Nigel Worthington got the club on a roll and they finished the season 17 games unbeaten – enough for a play-off spot.
The teams defence was their strongest aspect to their game; the Minstermen had the third stingiest in the league and they’ve looked to further strengthen that department, particularly with the signing of Luke Summerfield from Shrewsbury.
So far this season…
York are one of four unbeaten teams in the division; however they’re still looking for their first win after five draws to start off the season. As previously mentioned, Nigel Worthington won’t be especially concerned considering the final few months York had last time around.
They started off the campaign with a creditable 1-1 draw at Tranmere and followed it up with draws at home to Northampton and Cambridge, before another away at Exeter. Jake Hyde, signed from Barnet in the summer has hit the ground running with two goals and with the injury to Ryan Jarvis, extra responsibility has been heaped on Hyde to find the net.
Results have been poor in the cups though, losses to Doncaster and Barnsley mean they’re out of both the League Cup and the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
York City - Last four results:
L - Barnsley (A) - 2-0 (JPT)
D - Wycombe (H) - 0-0
D - Exeter (A) - 1-1
D - Cambridge (H) - 2-2
Top Scorers:
Hyde – 2
Lowe – 2
Fletcher - 1
Last time we met…
Oh what a day! Last time Boro met York it was the final day of the 2009/2010 season and a 1-0 win put the cherry on top of the icing after a memorable season which saw Boro crowned Conference champions.
David Bridges scored the only goal in the game but after sealing promotion a week earlier, it was truly an afternoon of celebration after Boro finished off the season with 14 wins out of 15.
Stevenage team that day:
Day, Henry, Ashton, Roberts, Laird, Byrom, Bridges (Odubade 54), Bostwick, Drury, Griffin (Sills 63), Beardsley (Wilson 69).
Subs Not Used: Bayes, Long.
Betting with SkyBet:
York are 21/10 outsiders to end that wait at Stevenage on Saturday. Boro who have won two and drawn one of their five games so far, are 13/10 to make home advantage count with a victory while the draw can be backed at 2/1. Stevenage’s two wins this season have come by a single goal and its 3/1 they repeat the trick this time. Given the score-lines both clubs have been involved in so far, it’s no surprise to see under 2.5 goals priced up at 8/13 (over is 6/5) while you can get 5/6 on both teams finding the net.
Not going to the game?
Listen to live match commentary on the Boro Player service where you'll also find full match highlights and full post-match interviews on Saturday. We'll also be providing live minute-by-minute updates on our Twitter account @stevenagefc, with the key incidents reported live on our Facebook page. The best match day photos will be posted on the club's Instagram account. Short highlights of the game will be on our YouTube page on Sunday afternoon, whilst extended highlights will be available on Boro Player.